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What a way to end a year; with the fantastic news that The Social Outfit now has enough funding to open our doors!In 2014 we’ll begin a design school and retail store in Sydney’s Inner West. We’ll be able to have a base from which to grow our creative work with people from new migrant and refugee backgrounds.

We’ve been working hard, and it’s so lovely to celebrate now and thank people for the support so far. For approximately 2 years a diverse group of committed people have been working together to make The Social Outfit start up a reality in Sydney. Over this time we’ve also had financial support from a wide range of philanthropists and foundations who have believed in our dream. Now, thanks to the recent generous funding from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation and Dusseldorp Skills Forum we have raised enough investment so we can set up ‘shop’ for real.

In 2014 we hope you’ll stay involved, show your ongoing support, and help us build our goals. We’re celebrating now, as well as knowing that our next stage of growth is going be challenging and will require the dedication again of many people. We hope you can be part of this. Showing support at The Social Outfit can look like many things, and we look forward to communicating with you next year as we plan and progress with ways to get involved.

In the meantime, we wanted to share this amazing ‘tipping point’ news, and THANK YOU for your part in The Social Outfit community so far.The Social Outfit exists to celebrate the skills and styles of diverse cultures in Australia. In 2014 we’ll be working hard to enrich the educational and employment opportunities for people from new migrant and refugee backgrounds in Sydney. And we can’t wait to share with you this next phase of our story…

And, more personally, given my story of starting support for The Social Studio in 2010, and it turning into building The Social Outfit since then; the feeling of celebration and *thanks* is very, very high. As I hope you know, I’ve always wanted to do *good in a fashion*: with a love of creativity, art, ethics and collaboration. So naturally I celebrated our funding news with some *Ken Done Love* …

Show: Here’s some photos of us working this Wednesday with four of the five women who are taking part in our fashion training at Fairfield High School. Like I think I’ve said previously, these women can already sew and are really interested in honing their skills, and working together as a group. Emma was showing everyone a pattern for dressmaking, and I’m so pleased to be using the fabric donated to us by Celia Morris at Dragstar. Watching the skills of these women, and their enthusiasm, is very exciting (especially for someone like me who really can only basically sew)! Plus, I’ve always been drawn to the idea of using people’s own talents to increase their sense of community and contribution in a new environment.

We’ve also started working with young people again too, many of whom were in our first sewing program. Things were just so boisterous and busy that I didn’t get a moment to grab our photo together!

Plus, some more outfits to share. This is Sunday last week, a fun, party day for the Hawaiian First Officer and myself. I decided* that my theme was ‘animal menagerie’ and celebrated the weekend with some vintage animalistic touches… (*And by “decided” I mean it just sort of happened as I was putting on pieces, and combining the fashion together.)

Detail:Tatty Devine ‘name neckalce’ and necklace from the Norman Lindsay Gallery. Although hard to see, I’m also wearing Gummy Bears on the white double-ring, a sparkling fox ring, and the large ring (that’s actually a vintage lipstick holder from an op shop) has a wee little bird on it, of course!

Then Saturday’s gear was about my pink denim flares and vintage bathing suit top worn as a singlet. xo.

Tell: Handmade earrings and necklaces, second-hand top gifted to me, ‘Shannon Freeville’ Made in Australia vintage swimsuit top from op shop, pink denim flares made by Jodie from Maurer & Strange, Trippen shoes.

Show: Have you seen our short film of The Social Outfit‘s recent ‘Colour Chameleon‘ project? As I’ve been saying to people, I’m so pleased it captures the positive spirit and creativity in the room that night. And what a *wonderful* example of people coming together to celebrate the skills and styles of diverse communities here in Sydney …

I also realised I could probably find an image or two that better shows off the *ace* fabric-combination skirt Emma-Kate made for me of all the designer’s work; from top to bottom: Ken Done, Linda Jackson, Dragstar (Celia Morris) and Nina Maya.

Here also, our earlier short-film from our project at Fairfield High School. We start stage-two of this project next week, and will also now work with parents at the school. I’m so pleased too because many of the young people involved in stage one are staying on to gain more sewing skills, and learn more about the Australian fashion industry…

And here is me from Thursday this week. I spent the day out meeting talented people as we continue community-building and refining our work. Essentially this outfit for me was about celebrating my new-vintage 1980s Jimmy Pike ‘Desert Designs‘ cropped t-shirt. Another piece added to my *love*-collection of 1980s Australian designers; and I’m particularly pleased about the inclusion of Pike’s fashion to help represent and celebrate the *fantastic* design elements of Aboriginal artwork, as Jimmy Pike was a Walmatjarri artist from Western Australia.

On Saturday last weekend, we went to a dear friend’s 40th birthday. Given the time of year, the theme was ‘Día de Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) and/or Mexican. The Hawaiian First Officer and I decided we wanted to go down the costume route of paying homage to great Mexico moments and/or people.

As I am sure you’ll agree, the Hawaiian First Officer took the theme of celebrating the 1968 Mexico Olympics with gusto. This montage is an absolute *gif favourite* of mine! I’m thinking that gold medal was won for retro-dancing-boxing, yes?!

Now you best be a little warned about the next set of photos…

I went as ‘Ugly Betty‘ because I think she’s a gorgeous Mexican woman; she’s cute; and, I always thought her fashion was fabulous from the get-go. The thing is, it turns out that if I put fake braces and teeth in, I look almost *nothing* like Ugly Betty and just closer to scary! As my dear brother said when he saw these photos today, “Yeeesh. You look sort of dead.” So not cute. But I still pay my homage to Betty; I realise my entire wardrobe is built for her; and, we had a great time!

Also, turns out – again, perhaps not that surprisingly – I’m a full-time smiler, so fake teeth are just really annoying after more than a minute. Did I mention I really like talking too, which makes a mouth-guard at a party *very* annoying!

Here’s the Birthday Lady, Antonia (who is also on The Social Outfit’s Board). Her glitter make-up was *wonderful* … And fake eyelashes on both top and bottom? Yes please!

This photo below is Friday evening last week, hanging out with friends…

And finally, here’s me the Saturday the weekend before, when a friend asked to interview me about my love of Ken Done (he’s studying film-making). And whenever I hear the words, “Ken Done” I naturally turn to some of my most favourite Australian vintage gear…

Show: The Social Outfit loves all these designers! And all the young people who volunteered at ‘Colour Chameleon’! And The Social Studio! And everyone who supported us, and came along to have fun on the night! … As you might tell by all the exclamation points, I *absolutely* loved our experience with Colour Chameleon on Friday 18 October 2013. A night to remember! What an evening we had at ‘5 Eliza’ in Newtown, Sydney. Here’s a small selection of just how much *talent*, *creativity* and *passion* was on show…

Below are some of our volunteer models showcasing the ‘Colour Chameleon’ fashion; many of these young people are also dancers with the Afro Contemporary Youth Dance group, who did a great musical performance at our event too…

Photo by Mark Sherborne.

Representing Fairfield High School, here we can see the senior hospitality students and teachers, and Haitham Jaju (on right) who coordinates the Parents’ Cafe, which provided delicious catering on the night…

It was a magnificent time, and the culmination of many people’s hard work. xo

For me, however, there wasn’t much time for rest and respite… because on the Sunday after the event I was off to the Nexus Australian Youth Summit conference. As you can tell, I was still wearing my smile, and now I also could show-off some of the ‘Colour Chameleon’ designs myself…

I spent the rest of the week with my head down, back at my kitchen table with important funding applications.

Right now, I feel like I’m *almost* caught-up again on all our work… almost…

But one thing is very clear; I’m *loving* building The Social Outfit here in Sydney with everyone involved, and fingers crossed that every day we’re getting closer and closer to setting up our store, school and community space in this fine, fabulous city… xo

Well I’ve caught my breath for a moment, and I’m *happily* back here again to show you this week’s outfits and a little about what we’ve been doing… so let’s go!

Show/Share: On Tuesday last week I had the opportunity to check out a fully-functioning clothing label in Sydney. I seriously found it so super-interesting to see just how many elements it takes to run a high-profile fashion company successfully. The people I got to meet there were also really lovely to me, and we met because they were keen to talk more about what The Social Outfit is hoping to do with young people from new migrant and refugee communities here in Sydney. It’s very encouraging when you meet great people who want to talk, share experiences, and look for ways to work across business and charity.

As you know, we have an event coming up in mid-October called ‘Colour Chameleon‘. It’s a great chance for us to keep showing our progress here in Sydney, as well as to celebrate some amazing fashion designers who have come on board to show their support for our work, and of course the fantastic work of The Social Studio. Go Ken Done, Linda Jackson, Nina Maya and Celia Morris from Dragstar! <3 x 4! So on Wednesday I headed to Vodafone HQ to keep learning more about marketing and PR, in order to think about telling our story more broadly.

And then Friday was a busy day with potential supporter business meetings, and also catching up with some of the fantastic young people who are going to be modelling with us at the Colour Chameleon event. And given Friday was full of spring-time sun, it felt like a *good* time to wear my large pineapple earrings I made from Mexican folk-art wall decorations. Large, colourful, very light, and only a little bit sharp at the edges!

Show/Share: Right, I’m determined to get things up to speed in these busy weeks for me, so this post is going to be shorter on words, but still with I what I hope is quite a few *fun* photos and outfits for you to see!

Here’s also some photos from the school’s Intensive English Centre Graduation that we attended last Wednesday to finish up the project. First up, Farnoush and Mahmoud share their experiences of our fashion work in front of their peers: especially how much they liked dressing up and having the film made!

Below is me and Shannon Carruth from ING Direct, who funded our project. It was lovely to have Shannon attend the graduation celebrations in-person; and I really like being able to work collaboratively with foundations like this.

One of my favourite parts of the IEC Graduation was one student singing an amazing version of Alicia Key’s ‘Ain’t Got Nothing’, and we all could sing along with a giant karaoke screen. The song is SO hard to sing, but I *love* a good bit ‘o karaoke, exactly timed to allow you to follow along!

This last week my sister-in-law, Susan, sent me a photo of her wearing a The Social Studio silk shift dress from ‘Colour Chameleon‘ in Melbourne. She said she got many comments on the night about how great the design is…

Then last Sunday… This was when we went to see the last showing of ‘The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe‘. I’m hoping this show is going to get more seasons, and hopefully across Australia. This theatre shows the real-life stories of four African women who now live in Sydney. It’s an honest, emotional and exceptionally interesting drama that really shows these women’s resilience.

Right, so now that’s all posted, I’m going to rest a little this evening, then pull up my socks and get crackin’ into another busy week. I’ll be sharing with you again soon enough, and in the meantime, I hope you’re *GRAND*! xo

And here’s one of the models in Ken Done‘s *brilliant* contribution. These dresses were produced as one-off pieces for the show, auctioned to support The Social Studio. In Sydney, we’re going to use these prints to then make some limited edition items for you see, hopefully *fall in love with* and purchase yourself …

There will be more fashion photos and videos to see from this wonderful event. (Eryn, from Her Table Top has a great blog post with lots of lovely photos too, for example.) We’ll keep you updated, and I’m so pleased to have been involved. A *congratulations* to all the models, students, community, TSS team and the designers – Linda Jackson, Ken Done, Alpha 60, Bul, Limderop and Obus – for such a great project.

Below is a photo of Emma after the show. She came to support the event with my sister in law, Susan. Here she is smiling and happily showing off her leggings she purchased. These are designed by Bul in support of the project. (That’s my brother in the background, too!). Thanks Emma xo

Below are some more photos of my own outfit. These are taken in the social enterprise cafe/bar, Shebeen later that day…

In Melbourne, The Social Studio is also celebrating the work of local designers, Alpha 60, Limedrop, Obus and Bul. If you’re in Melbourne this week, please come check it out. I’ll be there!

The collaborating designers have each created a unique print in support of our work. These artworks will then be digitally printed onto fabric at The Social Studio’s digital fabric printing studio, and then made into unique limited edition garments by the Studio’s manufacturing team, accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia.

In mid-October The Social Outfit will be hosting a fashion event in Newtown. This evening showcase event will celebrate the invited artists’ support for our ongoing establishment in Sydney. We will also promote the creativity and skills of people from Sydney’s own diverse refugee communities. Clothing from the ‘Colour Chameleon’ event will be for sale on the evening. Yes, you can buy great clothing, and support us! This event is proudly supported by the City of Sydney Council Community Grants Program.

I can’t wait to keep you updated as we plan madly to make this next event great. In the meantime, I’m so so *pleased and proud* that Ken Done, Linda Jackson, Celia Morris and Nina Maya are creating unique design prints just for us; and for clothing we can buy and share! xo

Can you see how I’m wearing all our supporters to celebrate: The Social Studio, Ken Done, Linda Jackson, and Celia Morris’ Dragstar label? So much fashion fun! In fact, the only person I’m missing is Nina Maya, and her great designs. But come the ‘Colour Chameleon‘ Project launch of clothing in October, I’ll be able to fix that small problem for sure! Hope you can get involved too… xo xo

Show/Share: Another week to catch you up on, and I wanted to start particularly with this lovely photo:

Check out some of the young people at our Fairfield High School fashion project, hard at work on the sewing machines. To think that they’d never been on machines before, and just four sessions later here they are: super keen to learn, to have a go, and already sewing their own garments! This project is really such a pleasure: the young people are really engaged and fun, and working with Emma from WEFT shop is fantastic learning for us all. But before I tell you more about Fairfield, let’s start back at Wednesday…

This was me on Wednesday last week when The Social Outfit was invited to the launch of the Marrickville Community Fund in the evening. Given that we’d love to set up shop in the Newtown/Enmore area longer-term (thus next to, or in, the Marrickville LGA), we loved being invited to this new fundraising initiative of the Sydney Community Foundation. We wish them all the best with their fund, and the projects they are looking to support. You can read more about them here.

Then of course on Thursday Emma and I were back at Fairfield High School working with the great bunch of young people who signed up for our project. Here’s Emma as we were on the public transport routes; she had a great *vintage flight attendant fashion vibe* happening that day…

Clearly there was also a subconscious memo to us both about blazers, and some sort of ‘semi professional’ fashion approach…

Next up on Friday I had the pleasure of welcoming a new volunteer to The Social Outfit group. I’ll give you the full update on her soon, but in the meantime, please meet Mathura Sinnappurajar. We’re so very pleased to have you involved, Mathura!

Friday’s outfit was one of those times where the ‘look’ kind of made itself as I went along; I just kept trying to add more yellow and blue, then more blue and yellow… until I ended up looking like a 1980s real estate agent? Bank Teller? Whatever it is, those *high* jacket shoulder pads were pretty fun!

Tell: Ken Done vintage glasses, handmade earrings and necklaces, ‘Skirtmaster Sydney’ jacket from op shop, ‘Back to the Future‘ vintage brooch (that still has the Hawaiian First Officer’s full name and address on it from the 1980s! Prized possession!), Dragstar silk shirt, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, vintage belt from the UK, Anthea Crawford skirt from op shop, The Social Studio digital print leggings, Happy Socks and Fluevog boots.

Then on Friday evening I was treated by my friend Althea to my first ever manicure; we went to this fantastic Korean nail place in Strathfield. The shop has this huge TV screen playing K-pop the whole time. Naturally, in celebration, I had a *touch* of sparkles added to my ‘nail art’! Here’s me and my nails out for lunch on Saturday with friends…

And finally, I found this bag in an op shop in Mornington a few months ago. I loved the fun design with the crest, and handle, but what really sold me was the label inside. It reads: “It’s Sheldon with the Lucky Cent. N.S.W’, and there’s the *lucky* Australian one cent coin in its own little pocket. Classic! So let me finish here with many *LUCKY* wishes to us all for this week ahead! xo xo

Show/Share: What a busy week! And, it’s set to be like that for a little while, with many plans and preparations underway at The Social Outfit. So let’s catch you up on this last week, shall we?

On Monday I was invited to speak with participants attending the School for Social Entrepreneurs ‘Accelerator’ Program. It was a lively session in which we discussed leadership style, taking social action and my hopes for The Social Outfit. I really enjoyed meeting the group of 15 people; all leading projects on issues they care about.

On Tuesday I had some important meetings, about a project The Social Outfit will be announcing very soon. I can’t wait to tell you all about this, and it won’t be long until I can share all the fun; I promise!

Nina also showed us about draping as a fashion technique. What’s great about draping is that it is easy to have a go, and really, there are no mistakes. We’re using fabric that’s been donated by Celia at Dragstar; it’s just a plain cotton perfect to explore different draping methods with, as you can see…

Here’s what the students came up with after working with Nina. They took to the workshop with absolute *gusto* and loved making shapes that look elegant. It’s harder to see, but the third mannequin from the left is actually about draping on men’s pants, and men’s hats and scarves. We had a great time together, and Emma and I can’t wait to continue working with the young people. Thanks for being involved too, Nina! xo

And on to Saturday. Thanks to some volunteer *brilliance* I worked on The Social Outfit‘s upcoming event we’re heading towards in October. Long-term supporter Meredith Turnbull lent us her office space to work from in Newtown, and David Moutou helped me with planning out the event in detail. This is what David and I looked like after hours of strategising and thinking: all *wide eyed* with good ideas and a very full to-do list!

Pictured here are nine of the twelve young people who are working with us for the next eight weeks (and our fabulous fashion teacher, Emma, of course!). Almost all of these young people attend the Intensive English Centre (IEC) at Fairfield High School, learning both English literacy skills and the Australian education system. As a person whose learnt languages before, I’m *super* impressed with their willingness to jump on in and start interacting with Emma and me. And let me tell you, these young people have some great ideas about fashion and their own style. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we develop together.

Below is Emma when she and I were collecting supplies from Greenfield for our sewing workshops last week. It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to work with Emma and learn from her expertise from WEFTshop.

And please check out below my new leggings that I bought at The Social Studio when I was there last week. These leggings showcase The Social Studio’s new digital printing capabilities, and the artwork is designed by one of their students. I love them! This is what I wore for our first Fairfield High School program day. Particularly *great* was when one young person asked if my neck got sore from wearing such heavy jewellery! I explained to him I’ve had years of *dedicated training* in large accessory wearing, so I’m doing just fine!

Tell: Handmade earrings and necklace, shrug from thrift store in the UK, Uniqlo skivvy, handmade dress found in op shop, The Social Studio leggings, Fluevog boots.

And here’s me on Friday, at some city meetings and working hard on The Social Outfit‘s longer-term plans. *Claps of joy* for wearing shorts in winter! xo

Show/Share: Phew, things are busy! Sorry for the delay in posting this week, but it’s been one of those times when I’ve either been in meetings, or head-down on paperwork. It all really started from last Saturday when The Social Outfit Committee of Management met for a planning meeting. We had a great working day, agreeing as a group on a working plan for the next 12 months (coinciding with my funded year as part of the Vodafone Foundation ‘World of Difference’ program). It’s *action-stations* for us all!

I also wanted to share with you what has become *quite a thing* of late: to drop into The Social Studio when visiting Melbourne, get your picture taken, and then send it to me! I love it! And *naturally* people always have such supportive and great things to say about The Social Studio. Many people comment on it being creative and inspiring; encouraging us to keep working on our Sydney version. Here’s Alexis from a local supporter cafe, Scrambled, showing how happy she is to see our sister studio in person. She bought a summer dress and says she’ll share the photo soon…

And of course, Vice-Chair David Hardie is always happy to pose and show his support! Apparently that blue/grey t-shirt looked great on him and he went home a happy customer too. xo

Then on Thursday night I got to do another favourite thing of mine which is to talk about comics. I’m a proud comics nerd; studying it as a part of my university degree. I was part of a panel event, so naturally wanted to wear some ‘comix’ for the night. It was great fun!

I particularly wanted to catch up with Emma-Kate and her *fantastic* fashion social enterprise, WEFTshop:

As explained on their website, “WEFTshop is a not-for-profit organisation committed to supporting refugee women from Burma living on the border with Thailand by developing their skills as textile artisans. The fabrics they make are the key to our work and to the freedom and financial well-being of many of these women and their families.” It was lovely to see their wares in person, especially the colour-combinations and the talent and skill involved…

Then on Friday I got to catch up with Kirsten, who is volunteering for The Social Outfit on some work. Kirsten and I used to work together at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and I’m so *chuffed* to have her helping us out! Volunteers really make all the difference to this start-up work. Thanks KR xo

This is me on Friday, remembering just how *ace* yellow and pink work together…